Style And Substance

Cover girl Danica Patrick also has become a driver to be reckoned with.

May 25, 2008|By Skip Myslenski, Chicago Tribune

INDIANAPOLIS — By Skip Myslenski, Chicago Tribune

Danica Patrick is the First Lady of Auto Racing, and the title is more than a nickname.

It has been her calling card since 2005, when she led the fabled Indianapolis 500 for 19 laps before finishing fourth. Patrick was a fresh-faced 23-year-old, and the performance transformed her into a cover girl, a star, the poster child for open-wheel racing in this country.

But her ride since then hasn't been the smoothest. Patrick was a consistent contender on the IndyCar circuit, but she couldn't break through and win, and certain cynics derided her as racing's version of Anna Kournikova, the style-over-substance glamour girl who never won a pro tennis tournament.

Last month, however, Patrick put the Kournikova comparisons to rest and solidified her status as a competent, competitive driver with a dramatic victory in the Indy Japan 300. She became the first woman to win a race in the IndyCar series, which dates to 1909.

Danica Patrick was in the history books, and the mania about her was in full flower. Her already formidable marketing machine kicked into overdrive. Patrick would do more than 100 interviews in the week that followed, setting down in Los Angeles and New York and places in between.

The attention has hardly abated in Indianapolis, where today she goes off as one of the favorites in the 92nd running of the 500, a race that has attracted all the top open-wheel drivers as it seeks to regain its stature as the nation's biggest.

"I'm very confident. There's no reason why I can't win this race," Patrick says boldly, and what a commotion that would cause.

At 26, she already is one of those rare one-name celebrities, simply Danica, as Tiger is simply Tiger, as Serena is simply Serena. She graced the cover of last week's Sports Illustrated, and any appearance she makes causes a stir, produces stares and whispers and draws autograph seekers by the dozens.

"Let's just say that's it's very difficult to go out in my hometown [Phoenix] and have a drink at the bar," Patrick says during a quiet moment at her garage.

And here at Indianapolis?

"It was big in '05," Patrick recalls. "But this is probably ... There's more attention this year, more recognition, being noticed by the fans a little more. It's very difficult to go anywhere. It's difficult to stop for everyone who says something. I try to do the best for kids. But there's always a herd of people waiting outside each door, waiting for autographs at the garages.

"I don't remember that happening. More people just know who I am now."

Basking in the spotlight

She certainly knows who she is and, just as important, she knows the exalted status she has achieved. But unlike many in her class who shun the spotlight, she welcomes it, thrives in it and uses it to her advantage. For 50 minutes she will prove this while sitting behind a cafe table and smartly fielding questions that rarely deal with her craft.

They instead revolve around her family plans (no children on the horizon) and her broad appeal (from kids to middle-aged men proposing marriage), about her future plans (fashion, owning a winery) and, most frequently, her exposure and her place at the pinnacle.

"I've stayed very regular with the media scene. I recognize the value of it," Patrick said.

It's one answer that's symbolic of many.

"I know how much it helps myself, my brand and the people who are on my chest, the sponsors and the teams and of course the league I'm in. So I do it. I'm not one of those drivers who sits back and says, 'I'm tired today. I'm not going to do anything. It's not worth it.' It's worth it, it's worth it, it's worth it."

That persona is one side of her life now, probably the more prominent side, and without meaning to, she prepared herself for it back in the days when she and her sister Brooke played a game called Beauty Shop.

"We would do each other's hair and makeup and take pictures," Patrick recalls. "That's pretty much a photo shoot. I enjoyed doing that when I was young and I wasn't getting anything from it but a lot of pictures. So this is stuff that I enjoy, that I don't really see as being work."

But that "stuff" is certainly not all of her being, and the emphasis on it obscures the oft-forgotten reality that is her other side. Patrick is an accomplished driver, a fierce competitor, a strong-willed, courageous athlete who has earned both her status and the respect of those with whom she roars around racetracks at speeds exceeding 200 mph in a dangerous dash to the checkered flag.

She may not be universally loved in the pits, and the attention she receives could engender resentment - it's hardly befitting the winner of one career race.

But it has not alienated Patrick from the community of drivers.

"Some people could have been bugged about it, but I don't really mind," says Tony Kanaan, her Andretti Green teammate. "I'm in racing to win races, not to be famous. That's the same [for her].